Squad shines at athletic clubs winter track and field carnival

By KESTER HUBBARD khubbard@scnews.com.au THE Sunshine Coast Sports Performance Academy is working towards an almost complete representation at the State Athletics Championships after an outstanding medal haul on the weekend.

The academy only has 16 members but managed to win a total of 32 medals 13 gold, 12 silver and seven bronze at the University of the Sunshine Coast Athletics Club winter track and field carnival.

Every competitor won at least one medal and 16 new personal best times were set.

The weekends results come after the squad also impressed at the King of the Mountain meet at Pomona late last month where 19year-old Peregian resident Ben Holland won the junior division and finished third overall, and Nicky Russell-Smith, 16, won the junior womens race and finished third overall.

Academy founder Craig Smythe said his squads next major goal was qualification for the State Athletics Championships at Brisbanes ANZ Stadium in October.

"Well know how many are going in four weeks time, thats when the regional championships are on and thats where well find out, Smythe said.

Smythe said Russell-Smith would be in action off the track before then at the national schools cross country championships in Canberra at the end of this month.

Smythe established the academy four years ago and it is now based at Matthew Flinders Anglican College.

He said while extensive advertising had been used in the past, it was the power of word-of-mouth, plus the goodwill of people he knew from living and teaching in Melbourne and at Sunshine Coast Grammar, that were responsible for new athletes joining the squad.

"What were doing is pretty special. And I dont say that with any arrogance at all. Were putting in a lot of hard work and planning, Smythe said.

"We run training sessions on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday. We have two mini-buses that drop-off and pick kids up from school (for training).

"Were doing a lot of training sessions at the university now because the track season is underway. There are many different opinions about how to best train children for athletics.

Smythe said that at the academy they worked on a philosophy of quality work focusing on teaching how to run well, rather than volume of kilometres run each week.